Spoiled Eldest Miss x Two-faced Madman

CHAPTER 122: “I’d Rather Die Than Be With You.”

　　The pain crashed over her like a tide, so intense that An Jiu could barely speak. Her whole body trembled, her hands and feet convulsed. The agony felt like being sliced alive, so unbearable she almost wished she were dead.

　　It hurt too much.

　　Way too much.

　　How could it hurt like this?

　　She could even hear the grinding of her teeth as her jaw clenched uncontrollably. Her mouth was filled with the thick, metallic taste of blood.

　　The pain was so overwhelming that her mind felt like it was slipping away, leaving just a sliver of clarity.

　　She could feel a pair of cold hands—completely devoid of warmth—trembling as they cupped her face. That touch reminded her, inexplicably, of snow falling softly on her cheeks in the dead of winter.

　　Her vision blurred, like a sheer veil had been drawn over her eyes. Everything she saw turned hazy and distorted.

　　Even the man’s terrified face, his eyes wide with panic, looked unclear.

　　It felt like she was sinking underwater. Her surroundings wavered, and sounds reached her ears slowly, like they were dragging through molasses. That heart-wrenching scream stretched long and strange, like someone playing a tape in slow motion, echoing weirdly beside her.

　　“No—!”

　　Her body collapsed without control, falling into a cold embrace.

　　It was freezing. Not just her—he was cold too. So cold it was shocking. Even huddled together like this, neither of them could warm the other up.

　　An Jiu’s vision kept going black, her will fading. She was so close to just falling asleep like that.

　　But she remembered. There were still things she hadn’t said. Tasks she hadn’t finished. So she forced herself to open her heavy eyelids, struggling hard, and with all the strength she had left, she opened her mouth and pushed out a broken syllable.

　　“Pei... Pei Ji...”

　　The moment she said his name, blood rushed up her throat, choking her until she was coughing uncontrollably, unable to catch her breath.

　　“Don’t speak. Please. Don’t,” a low, hoarse voice reached her ears.

　　Her wrist was suddenly grasped by a large hand. Then, with quick and precise pressure on a few points on her body, the warm liquid flooding her mouth finally stopped.

　　He gently laid her flat on the ground. Gold needles flew one after another, piercing into her acupoints with practiced speed.

　　The sharp pain began to ease. Her senses slowly returned. Her blurred vision cleared up bit by bit, and what she saw was a face filled with anguish, fear, and desperation.

　　She was already in so much pain. But somehow, he looked like he was hurting even more than she was.

　　His dark eyes were bloodshot. The line of his jaw was tight. His hands moved at a speed she had never seen from him before, driving needles into her body. Huge beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

　　As if he was terrified that if he were even one second too slow, she’d be lost for good.

　　By now, An Jiu could breathe again. The pain inside her was becoming bearable. Though from time to time, her body still trembled uncontrollably.

　　She suddenly thought of what Pei Ji looked like whenever his poison flared up. Maybe she looked just as pathetic now.

　　Watching the man with his head lowered, his hands flying with practiced speed, An Jiu let out a heavy breath and said softly, “You know you can’t save me.”

　　He couldn’t even save himself. How could he possibly save her?

　　At her words, the man lifted his head. His reddened eyes landed on her face and locked there, unmoving. A shimmer of tears welled up in his gaze.

　　His lips had lost all color. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He swallowed hard and finally asked in a raspy voice, “Why?”

　　Then he asked again, “Why?”

　　Then came the third time: “Why did you do it?”

　　His voice was hoarse beyond recognition.

　　With Pei Ji’s medical skills, just checking her pulse was enough for him to know what she had done. Besides, he could feel the changes in his own body — the heaviness that had plagued him was gone, replaced by a sense of lightness and renewal, like dry wood meeting spring. It was a kind of relief he had never experienced before. If only he had paid more attention, he might not have mistaken it for the simple joy of getting what he wanted.

　　But there was no if.

　　Everything had already happened.

　　An Jiu lay there, her body feeling heavy, so heavy she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and sleep without thinking.

　　But she knew it wasn’t time yet.

　　She couldn’t sleep. Not yet.

　　She tried her best to lift the corners of her lips into a faint smile. Her voice was so soft it felt like a breeze could scatter it.

　　“I saw a lot of medical books in the library.”

　　She had to rest after every sentence, building up enough strength to say the next one.

　　“There was one book that talked about Twin-soul Gu.”

　　His lashes trembled. His dark eyes were bloodshot. He knelt in front of her, his expression completely blank. That refined face of his was filled with numb, lifeless despair.

　　“I knew only the Twin-soul Gu could cure your poison and keep you alive.”

　　An Jiu gasped for breath. Another warm stream rose up in her throat and slid down her chin.

　　A long, jade-like hand reached out, trembling as it brushed along her jaw. The pale fingertips were stained with blood.

　　He didn’t seem to care. With his head lowered stubbornly, he gently wiped the blood from her face, little by little.

　　“And then… one time, during your relapse, I accidentally saw the mechanism hidden behind your bed. You probably don’t remember.”

　　The hand that had been wiping her blood began to shake even harder.

　　An Jiu couldn’t help but smile. But the next second, she broke into a fit of coughing. It took a long time before it stopped. Her freshly cleaned face was once again streaked with filth.

　　Boiling hot drops fell from above. One by one, they splashed on her face, mixing with the blood she had coughed up, soaking into her collar like heavy rain.

　　An Jiu tilted her face up and looked at him. She gazed into those storm-filled, pitch-black eyes and said softly, “Pei Ji, I wanted you to live.”

　　“I didn’t want you to die.”

　　Her voice grew lighter and her vision blurred for reasons she couldn’t explain. Warm tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes, slipping into her hair.

　　“I know… you don’t want to die either…”

　　Before she could finish, a sharp pain twisted through her belly, choking the rest of her words.

　　The man, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke in a raw, broken voice.

　　“I wanted to live because you were here.”　　

　　“There was something in this world I couldn’t bear to leave behind.”

　　“If you’re not here, what’s the point of me staying?”

　　It was as if he had suddenly made up his mind. His face turned calm, eerily calm.

　　Pei Ji reached out and gently lifted An Jiu into his arms. He tidied her scattered hair, straightened her messy clothes, and held her tightly against him. Then the two of them lay together on that bright red wedding bed.

　　Throughout the whole thing, An Jiu had no strength to fight back or stop him.

　　She already guessed what he was going to do.

　　“Jiu'er, even if we can only be husband and wife for just one day, it's still a blessing from the heavens. I'm already satisfied.”

　　He held her gently, whispering softly by her ear, “Don't be scared. I'll go with you. On the road to the underworld, we'll still be husband and wife. We'll walk that path together, okay?”

　　An Jiu thought, that should be enough, right?

　　Sure enough, the next second, she heard a robotic voice echo in her mind.

　　【Congratulations, Host. You have successfully completed the target strategy: Pei Ji. His affection for you has increased by 1. Current value: 100.】

　　【Please make your decision within five minutes:

　　1. Return to your original world.

　　2. Stay in this world.】

　　【Countdown: five minutes. Please be mindful of the time.】

　　Only five minutes.

　　An Jiu turned to look at the man beside her. He was staring at her with eyes so deep and silent, like the bottom of the sea—so dark and unreachable, filled with heavy, overwhelming emotion.

　　Just meeting his gaze was enough to make her feel like she couldn't breathe.

　　So this is what 100 affection means. Life and death together.

　　An Jiu slowly closed her eyes and asked the system in her mind, “After the mission is complete, if his affection level drops, I can still go home, right?”

　　【Of course. Once the mission is complete, he's no longer a target.】

　　After a pause, the system asked curiously, 【Host, what do you plan to do?】

　　An Jiu didn’t answer. There wasn’t much time left.

　　She opened her eyes again and looked at Pei Ji. He was still watching her, never blinking, not even for a second. It was like he was trying to lock her in his gaze forever, as if by doing so, she would never leave him again.

　　Maybe it was a last burst of strength before everything went dark, but An Jiu suddenly felt like her body had regained some power.

　　She tugged at the corner of her mouth, and under the man's deep, longing gaze, she softly called his name.

　　“Pei Ji… did you really think everything I just said was true?”

　　The calm expression on his face slowly began to crack.

　　An Jiu gave him a gentle smile, but her eyes turned colder and colder. All the emotion faded from them, and in the end, only disgust remained.

　　Everything had changed, and it all happened right under Pei Ji’s nose. He didn’t miss a thing.

　　“It was all a lie.”

　　The girl lay on bright red bedding, her palm-sized face pale as paper, drained of all color. But there was a wild, uncontrollable smile tugging at her lips. Her beautiful peach blossom eyes curved like crescent moons. Even though she was on the brink of death, there wasn’t a trace of fear on her face.

　　“I knew you were Fei Yi from the very beginning. You’re also Xian Wuming. I’ve known it all along.”

　　Pain still lingered faintly between her brows and eyes, a sign of the deadly poison surging through her, but those dark eyes of hers sparkled like stars. They were filled with cunning and satisfaction.

　　“You got close to me, used me, tried to detox yourself through me, and humiliated and deceived me again and again. I knew everything you did. Someone like you, so full of evil, how dare you expect anyone to love you?”

　　Under An Jiu’s gaze, the man’s expression froze bit by bit.

　　“I never loved you. Not once. Every single thing was a lie. I’m not the real An Jiu. I’m a wandering soul from another world. I came here to punish you. Now that you’ve fallen for me, you’ll suffer the pain of losing what you love. My mission is complete, and I’m going back to my world. I’ll never return.”

　　She lay there like a queen looking down from her throne, her gaze cold and superior.

　　That arrogant, disgusted look on her face made it feel like he was nothing more than some filthy, worthless thing she was finally done with.

　　Was it all fake?

　　She didn’t love him? Not even once?

　　A sharp pain stabbed through his chest, and Pei Ji couldn’t help but double over, his back hunched.

　　His mind roared like thunder. The entire world collapsing wouldn’t even come close to describing how he felt inside.

　　“You’ve done so many terrible things. You’ve killed so many people. How can you still hope for someone to love you? People like you deserve hell. I don’t even want to die next to you. Do you get that?”

　　Her voice kept coming, one blow after another, like she’d finally decided to spit out every bit of resentment she’d buried in her heart. She didn’t even wait for his reply. She just went on listing his crimes, one by one.

　　Each word, each sentence, cut into him like a sharp blade. Every one of them was a slow and brutal execution.

　　Why did it hurt so much?

　　A hundred, a thousand times worse than the pain of the poison flaring up. The agony surged so violently he could barely stop himself from crying out, convinced his heart might burst from the strain.

　　Stop. Please stop.

　　He wanted her to be quiet, to stop talking, but he couldn’t even move. His lips wouldn’t part.

　　It was like his whole body had sunk to the bottom of a boundless, endless ocean. The pressure wrapped around him, choking him, leaving him unable to move, to speak, to respond in any way at all.

　　All he could do was watch her smile, watch the triumph in her eyes, the scorn, the disdain.

　　His heart crumbled to ash.

________________

Author’s note:

Was that heartbreaking enough?

…..

T/N: You cruel, cruel author… 😑 Seriously.

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